It was unclear exactly what stops were necessary to make. Should I visit my grandparents in Dalhart? Should I visit my sister in Grapevine? Well, if I visit my sister in Grapevine there is no reason I shouldn’t stop in Granbury to visit my other grandparents, which is only about 45 minutes away. And on the way to Dalhart I will be driving through Wichita Falls, so I must see my family there!

Now, there is a lot of room for jealousy. This isn’t like Christmas weekend when every one of  my family members is vies for my presence…(if only I could be in 40 places at once.)

This is different. How so? Well, everyone lives so close and I have a full day to visit and love and smile with family so it only makes sense; if I am in the area, then I need to show my sweet face.

So, in its final stage, my 1-way route to Vegas has a total of 7 stops:

1. Granbury, Texas – 3.5 hours from Austin
2. Grapevine, Texas – 1.5 hours from Granbury
3. Wichita Falls, Texas – about 2 hours away from Grapevine
4. Dalhart, Texas – about 6 hours away from WF
5. Flagstaff, Arizona – 9.5 hours further
6. Sedona, Arizona – Only 45 minutes away from Flagstaff!
7. Las Vegas, Nevada – the last 5 hours!

DAY 1: I will leave the 23rd, Tuesday, early in the morning and make my 4 stops before I meet up with Hans in Dalhart. He will leave the same day but a few hours later. In Dalhart, we will soak up the family time, get some sleep, then hit the long-haul in the morning on our way to Flagstaff.

DAY 2: 9+ hours to Flagstaff. We will probably pit stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico to freshen up. Once in Flagstaff, we will get a hotel for the night, chow down some steak and brew at the Beaver Street Brewing Company, then crash for tomorrow.

DAY 3: Spent mostly in Sedona. Sedona, Arizona is a beautiful place full of natural formations and wonders. We will picnic, take pictures, and indulge our touristy side! Once the sun has descended into it sparkling nighttime bed, we will head to Las Vegas.

I understand the Hoover Dam has high traffic right now due to construction so we might have to drive south and follow I-40 across the Colorado River. That kind of depends on the time of day, though. I remember when we crossed the dam last April. It was during rush-hour (that was totally accidental) and the traffic was inching and stopping! It took us about 2 hours to get to the other side.

This time, it will be passed rush-hour once we hit the dam, so we may not have to deviate from our original route after all.

Total estimated drive time: 28 hours

Total estimated mileage: 1,555

Total estimated amount spent in gas: $253.00 OUCH!

Imagine, little town, quaint diner, and two people in love, looking to the stars for fun and new adventures…

Sitting in Dalhart, TX after visiting my wonderful grandparents, Hans and I sat in the local Pizza Hut waiting for our anticipated pizza. We talked of our life together and cute lovey-dovey stuff and it sprang upon us so suddenly that the only answer to the epiphany was, HELL YES!!

Let’s move to Vegas!!

Since then we have been in preparation to get over there; packing, working tirelessly, enjoying the last few moments with friends, and saving, saving, saving!!

The move: Over 1500 miles. Currently, the trip includes a few stops. Grapevine, Granbury, Wichita Falls, Dalhart, and Sedona.

The more I think about it, we SHOULD do more stops!! There is so much in between here and Nevada. We are passing through 4 states. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. Yes, the land is considered desert. But it is also old land and nature has developed some its most beautiful phenomenons! So, why not? We are planning to take off a week entirely from work and other responsibilities so what else to do than site-see?

Our plan: Pack up whatever fits in our vehicles, my two cats, grab a pair of 2-way radios and drive for a day. conveniently enough, our planned move date falls around tax return season so we got a few extra bucks burning in our pockets ready to pay for gas, food, and fun.

My estimations, I alone will spend about $230 on gas out there. $60 for food. Is that a lot? Because it seems like it!!

The Sunday before our move date (the 23rd if ya didn’t catch it in the video) we will get together with friends and family. I’m not sure of the venue, yet, but I will let everyone know.

If you have any suggestions on places to stop, let me know! I would love to hear some ideas!!!

Thanks you guys and look forward to seeing you before I leave!

My first theme worked for what I was trying to carry out… a type of  ‘about’ site for extreme/alternative sports with humor and photography mixed in. Then, as the site evolved so did the goals for the site. Currently, it is a work in progress, each day I learn something new and adopt new techniques.

Recently, I changed themes. New theme: IsoTherm News Theme by Bizzarctic.

It’s relatively new and super cool so I am curious how many people have adopted this theme so far.

I’ve been very satisfied with the theme until I realized no one was clicking on my links… that’s because they can’t SEE them! The hyperlinks are black (same as text) and highlighted in a super light beige color.

I found a solution to my problem. Here it is…

As you are creating your new post in your VISUAL editor, highlight the word that will soon become a link and change the TEXT color… i chose blue, as this is a recognizable color for hyperlinks.

Once published, you will see the link in your selected color.

(Visualization is below)

Now, if there is a better solution, feel free to comment and let me know, but as the issue stands, this is the only known solution.

I thank the WP support team for this and Vivian Paige, specifically!

Click on the image to view it at a larger size.

Let me just say, that I am thoroughly satisfied with my new HootSuite add-on!! Like I had mentioned in my earlier post, I recently signed up for HootSuite and it has become my favorite Twitter client!!!

And yesterday, HootSuite created an add-on for Firefox!! The add-on is a mini Hootlet dashboard, but what makes it so grand is that you don’t need to copy and paste links anymore, and no more switching back-n-forth from page to page working to set up your next tweet…

Just click on the cute little Owly icon  and it will shorten the URL, add descriptive text, then send it to any or all of your twitter accounts!!

WOW, I mean, WOW… how can it get any better!!

If you download the add-on, I must tell you that the HootSuite icon will not show up after restarting Firefox. It’s a little different from most Firefox add-ons in that you will have to manually place it onto your browser.

I’ll tell you how to do it…

Go to View > toolbars > customize > and drag-n-drop the HootSuite owl icon. Then, you’re good to go!!

Check out HootSuite here, if ya like… HootSuite

I will say, the one bad thing with HootSuite is that it does not yet allow you to view or manage your followers. I’ve read that they are working on some ideas to get this feature into the client. But, as I said before, HootSuite is really awesome if your goal is to share with the friends you’ve already got…

Anyway, I have been looking for something that is easy to navigate and quick. I dig tweetdeck all right, but maybe it’s too much for me right now. To me, it’s just another program that I have to start up, log into,  and that constantly wants to update .
That’s fine and dandy and totally understandable but not what I am looking for!  I’m looking for a simple twitter interface, but that allows me to tweet to several accounts at once.

Well, that’s what HootSuite is!! It’s a very simple website that acts a lot like twitter but allows you to tweet to more than one account.
You can set up automated tweets.
You can also check the click stats of each of your accounts.
I have found that it works best when my goal is to share things with my friends…

All I have to do is copy the URL from the site I like, then go to HootSuite ( in Firefox I always have at least 4 tabs going at once ) and paste the URL, shorten it, add a comment and post to any or all accounts. I can also add files and images.

Plus , there isn’t a ton of frilly stuff I have to work around like I do with tweetdeck.

Now, here is the exciting news, HootSuite has just created a Firefox add-on!!
Last night I downloaded about 3 add-ons for Firefox and since then, I have figured them out… for the most part. So my browser isn’t a link cluttered mess anymore!!

I’m about to install this HootSuite add-on. Let’s see how it works!!….
If you would like to check Hootsutie out for yourself, go here

and if you dig, here is the add-on from the Mozilla website…

Cheers

Trying to maintain an organized work place online has become exactly the opposite. While trying to build my community and build my internet presence I keep coming across all of these tools and widgets and add-ons, and plugins, and websites, that at this point I have just added another 48 hours to my ‘to do’ list.

Now I must go into each site, load up a bio; go into my bookmarks and organize them once again; sign back into all of the forums and blogs I follow and add them to my new ‘fancy’ media tools…

I feel so ignorant!!Maybe eventually, I will figure this stuff out.

I do enjoy Firefox. It reminds me of a physical work space… little bins that are alphabetized for all of your random papers, a secret locked drawer for all of your private stuff, a place to store all of those uncompleted projects, and then the desktop, which is just covered in old, new, and unknown stuff.

AAAGH… where is the simplicity??

And there is a video that exists, too. Click here for video

Did you know? Derby is criticized for not being a sport. It’s good to know that golf is called a sport but major disputes arise over derby… hmm…

If you have been following my rushmonkey blog, then you would know that early on, I did a small expose on derby. It didnt last long though. I realized that I am sucky on the 4-wheels and I had to turn away for a while. In addition, for personal reasons, I chose not to get myself involved in derby.

Recently, I got invited to participate on the recreational league of roller derby. This rec league consists of a few primer classes then a few competitive classes. This way, I can get some experience.So, I decided, what the hell. There is a fabulous opportunity!

Derby is like tsunami surfing, you cant just jump in and get involved! There is much practice that needs to be acquired.

So, here I am. My first primer class is this coming Sunday. Not only does the time change, but it’s the day after Halloween; my BIRTHDAY!!

I may be hurting a lil, just a little. But i’m counting on the experience to pull me out of my Halloween fog!

Wish me luck!~~~

Check out the Texas Rollergirls here and the rec-n-roller derby league here…

-xoxo

Update: still no job!!! $#!*

I have been looking for a week now. Actually, 9 days today! No success!

It either turns out that someone else is hired, they dont need the position filled anymore, or I cannot reach the right person, or the lead I get is a dud!

My friends tell me, “it’s not what you know but who you know!” I have yet to find a reason to believe that!! :-/

So, instead of working these past few days, I have been avidly working on my other blog, and enjoying  some personal time. Not much though! Since I do mostly job hunting, I do a lot of driving and research and digging and talking that I haven’t had as much time to myself as I usually do.

I always thought work sorta got in the way of my personal time. But since being unemployed, I have realized that unemployment takes up more of my time and more of my effort.

Being unemployed sucks in more than one way!!

But don’t worry! I will find a way! I guarantee that! Think positive and it will carry you far …